


Reincarnation

by timefornothing



Series: Marvelous [3]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men (Movies)
Genre: Drinking, Multi, Superheroes, Superpowers, cinematic universe kind of, i'll add more if i think of them, there's some drinking in this, x-men school
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-07
Updated: 2015-08-31
Packaged: 2018-04-03 08:53:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4094725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timefornothing/pseuds/timefornothing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Third Book in the Marvelous Series</p><p>One month after altering the entire world's course towards peril, Hope is sent to Xavier's School to learn how to master her abilities and begin her training towards becoming an Avenger. Unbeknownst to the X-Men, Hope's brother is alive and kicking, and well on his way to using Hope to find him a new body. With new challenges from her friends and an old face from the past, Hope will have to choose between helping her brother and doing what she knows is right.</p><p>In the third book in the Marvelous series, Reincarnation is sure to be one of the most exciting books yet, with a twist at the end that no one saw coming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go, third book!  
> This one is also available on wattpad [here!](https://www.wattpad.com/story/33661476-marvelous-reincarnation)
> 
> This one is definitely more exciting, and a lot more of the plot things start to make sense as they're revealed. (:
> 
> See ya at the end!

**_BOOK THREE: REINCARNATION_ **

**re·in·car·na·tion **  
**** ˌrēənkärˈnāSH(ə)n/  
-The rebirth of a soul in a new body.

 

“You know she will not come easy.”

Idril paused, the essence of another elf slowly drifting towards her. She was resting in the Room of Knowing in Alfheim, glancing through the pools that held the future of two humans in particular.

“I know not what you mean, Cleffel.”

He floated closer, his light mingling with hers as they glanced down into the future. “I believe you do. You’ve been quite focused on their path for some time, so I do not understand why you refuse to believe she wouldn’t help us.”

“It isn’t as if we have wronged her.” Idril started slowly, raising the pool she was looking at closer to them. “If anything, we have helped her and her brother come to terms with their true power. And as I told those humans who intervened before, she is more powerful than any of them realize.”

“Humans minds are too concerned with their own environment.” Cleffel snorted, pushing away the pool and pulling up another. “They know not what we mean when we speak of power. They think she belongs solely to them, on that planet.”

Idril remained silent, knowing he was right. Instead, she brought forth another pool, one that showed the young girl facing a large and gruesome beast, whose image itself was enough to make the light grow dimmer in the room.

“Yes, I know she has a great evil to face.” Cleffel said, making the image disappear. “And I realize that this will be the first time she helps save another world. But her future resides with more than just a world or two. And she will not come willingly to help when all of her ties reside on her home planet.”

“But maybe if we showed her!” Idril argued, reaching forward to pull up a distant pool, one far from the Earth images. “If we sent her, showed her what she was truly meant to do. Then, she and her brother would be more than willing to help once they see the good they can do.”

Cleffel paused, watching the images in the pool. A ship was under attack, barely flying past each enemy blast that came his way.

The gravity of the situation was dire, and was sure to send the balance flying out of control if allowed to go on much further.

“As you wish, Idril.” Cleffel sighed, pulling forth the Earth pools again. “Grasp your savior, put her where you need her.” He began moving away, his light fading as Idril reached forth into the pool. “But do not be surprised when it takes more than just a gentle nudge to show Hope and Eric Banner what they are truly meant to do for this universe.”


	2. One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope goes back to school.

“Are you sure that’s the right button?”

“Well, I mean, no.” Hope Banner frowned, reaching forward to tap at the screen again. “But that’s his name in here, right? So we’ve gotta be on the right track.”

Steve Rogers frowned as well, holding the device in his hands. It began vibrating and they both jumped, nearly dropping it to the floor of the car in shock.

“It’s vibrating!” Steve announced, holding on tighter to it as he ignored the snorts from the front seat. “And his name came up! How did it know?”

“What do we do?” Hope asked, eyes wide. “Maybe if we just press a few more buttons…”

 _“Congratulations, you just learned how to answer a phone!”_ Crackled the voice over the speaker, making both Hope and Steve jump back. They glanced at each other, then Steve whispered, “So that’s really him?”

_“Yes, oh great and powerful Captain America. I’m speaking to you on the phone. Really guys, for how smart you are, I can’t believe it’s taking you this long to figure out how to work a cell phone.”_

“Well, not all of us grew up surrounded by fancy technology.” Hope grumbled, taking the phone in her hands and looking at the screen. “I’ll just have Logan or Jean help me.”

“Or me!” Bruce Banner called cheerily from the front seat. “Your uncle is more than welcome for questions!”

Hope stuck her tongue out at him, then turned back to the phone. “Alright, so how do I get rid of Tony’s voice?”

 _“Aw, hanging up on me already? It’s the red button at the bottom. But really, I would have thought you’d want to hear more of my melodic—“_ A quiet beep sounded and Tony’s voice faded out, the screen returning once more to the home screen. Steve cheered, high-fiving Hope while Bruce laughed quietly to himself.

“So, like, do you have a roommate?” Johnny Storm finally piped up from the passenger seat, feet propped up on the dashboard. “Is it like college?”

“From what I’ve heard, it’s a little more sophisticated than college.” Hope smirked, mind flitting through Johnny’s brief college memories. “No keg parties, unfortunately.”

“Sucks for you.” Johnny snorted, turning back around to watch the road pass by in front of them. “Keg parties were the best. But if this school is as boring as it sounds, I’ll have to come sneak you out every other weekend.”

Hope laughed at Bruce’s worried face, propping her feet up on the seat next to her. “Sounds good to me!”

Only twenty minutes later, they were pulling down the long drive that led to Xavier’s school. A few other cars and adults were there, helping the other new students move in. Hope bit her lip, noticing how many of them were that much younger than her. It’s not like she’d be there long, she told herself. Just enough to get a better grasp on her powers and then she was out of there, back to the Avenger’s Mansion to stay with her friends.

Bruce had brought Steve and Johnny along to do the heavy lifting, even though she barely had two bags of stuff. He was obviously going to be the one she needed to worry about when it came to separation anxiety. Thor had offered an apology, as there were things that needed taken care of in the other realms. But he wished her luck and promised to visit as soon as he could. One bag held the few clothes she had snagged from various people and the suit donated by Reed Richards, and the other was a collection of gadgets and accessories that Tony and Pepper had insisted that everyone needed when they left for school. She had laughed, telling them not to worry so much. Everyone was acting like she was their little girl—daughter or sister, she couldn’t tell—heading off to college for the first time. It wasn’t like they couldn’t come see her, anyone was welcome to visit during the day. However, it was for an indefinite period, because the duration of her stay would be determined by Nick Fury and Professor Xavier.

“I’m telling you right now, it took me three times as long to get moved in to college.” Johnny laughed, flopping down on the bare bed after dropping her bag on the floor. Steve followed not long after, setting his bag gently on the desk. “What all did Stark put in here?”

Bruce scratched his head, “Desk lamp, coffee maker, some pencils I think. Pepper put in a laptop for her, and Tony probably gave her some prototype to mess with.” He smiled, “Maybe they did go a bit overboard.”

Considering the room was on the smaller side, Hope guessed anything more than the basics was overboard. The room was maybe ten feet by eight, a single window being the only light other than one in the center of the ceiling. A standard size bed was against the right wall underneath the window, the foot of it pressed tight against a large wardrobe nailed into the wall that held quite a few racks and drawers for clothes. On the left wall was a dresser and a desk, and she highly doubted she’d have enough stuff to fill any of the furniture.

“Overboard is fine with me!” Hope told him, sitting down next to Johnny. “It’s not like I’m going to have too much stuff.” She looked at the huge closet in disdain, noticing also the numerous shelves around her room. “I’m gonna need to start a collection or something.”

Everyone hung around for a few more minutes until Bruce decided they needed to head out so she could get settled in. She hugged them all goodbye, promising to stay in contact once she figured out how to use the phone Tony gave her. They left with waves and choruses of, “You’ll have fun! Play nice! Don’t set anyone on fire!”, the last one coming from Johnny. Once they were gone, she turned back around, looking at her meager belongings. It only took her ten minutes to put her clothes away in the wardrobe, and then she turned to the bag from Tony and Pepper.

First was a laptop in a blue sleeve, the first thing of color in her boring room. She set that in the center of her desk, telling herself she’d learn how to use it that night. Just like Bruce said, there was a desk lamp, also blue, and several pens and pencils that she dumped in the top drawer. A couple notebooks and folders came after, which she put in the top drawer as well. It almost felt like when she used to buy school supplies when she was younger. She had always been good in school, at the top of her class until her own brother had passed her. She enjoyed learning, and she was excited to start classes here.

“Oh, you’re the room next door.”

Hope turned, already annoyed by the tone of the voice. Rogue stood in the doorway with Bobby behind her, both of them looking into the room with something close to anxiousness.

“Nice to see you again, Marie.” Hope said casually, turning back to pulling out some odd device Tony had shoved in her bag. It closely resembled the phone, but with less buttons on the side. “Bobby, you as well.”

“Good to see you, Hope.” Bobby offered good-naturedly, shifting his weight as Rogue moved on to the next room down the hall. He paused a moment, then took a step inside. “Uh, this room’s been vacant for a while. It’ll be good having someone in it again.”

Hope smirked, looking back up at him. “Yeah, seems like it.” Nervousness was radiating off of him in waves, clearly unsure of how to approach her. She guessed that the rumors going around the students after the battle in the woods were nothing less than extravagant. It’d been almost a month, surely they’d have dropped it by now. “Thanks for the welcome. Any chance I’ll be in classes with you?”

“Probably!” Bobby relaxed instantly, the thought of his powers seeming to soothe his churning mind, much to Hope’s amusement. “Since, you know, you can do water stuff and I’m cryokinetic. So we’ll probably overlap a bit.” His brow furrowed, a smile sliding across his face as he pointed to the object in her hands. “Hey, is that one of the hologram prototypes Tony Stark is working on?”

Hope looked at the ball of metal she had just grabbed, the numerous buttons mocking her. “You know what this hunk of junk is?”

“Yeah, I read about it online.” He grinned, coming over to the desk. “Supposedly, it’s like a mini version of what he has in his lab. You can project your files from the computer in the air so it’s more interactive.” He pointed to the glowing purple rectangle sticking out from the side of her computer. “That’s probably the USB that connects it to the projector. How’d you get it?”

Hope shrugged, handing it to Bobby so he could look at it. “Tony gave me a bag of stuff, said I’d need it all for school. I think he forgets that I’m not too good with technology.”

“You’ll get the hang of it.” He smiled, handing it back to her. “Stark tech is generally user friendly, so I wouldn’t be too worried.”

“Bobby, let’s get lunch!” Rogue’s voice echoed down the hallway, and he offered an apologetic smile.

“I’ll catch you around, yeah?”

She nodded, waving her hand. “Yeah, I’ll see ya. Let me know if the food’s any good!” He laughed, backing out of the doorway before walking away to find Rogue. She looked back to the device in her hand, setting it on the shelf above her desk. Why on earth would Tony think she needed a hologram projector at school?

She shook her head and sighed, getting up from her seat. Might as well go get her schedule now. She wondered the hallways, taking her time and glancing into the minds of the students she passed. They were of varying ages, all with a wide range of abilities. She smiled when she sensed the young telepaths, even though every one she walked by steered clear of her path. She was positive it was because of Rogue’s story-telling. How else would they know that she was someone to avoid?

Finally, after passing by a dozen doorways and going up and down three flights of stairs, she found herself in the main hallway she had entered the very first time she came here. Taking a deep breath, Hope allowed herself to smile, remembering the way they had taken her in. They were so kind, although they had no motive to be. She was dangerous, a wild card, even, yet the X-Men and the Avengers had shown her hospitality and helped her. 

“Hope!”

She looked up, smiling when she caught sight of Xavier at the end of the hall. Shaking off the nostalgia, she walked over to him. “I was just looking for you!”

“I guessed as much!” He returned the smile. “Coming to see what classes you’ll be in?” She nodded, and Xavier turned, leading her to his office. “Of course, you’ll be in the advanced classes. Only one of those classes will focus on your mental abilities, since that’s already what you have the most control over. The rest of the day, you’ll be down in the training areas working to control your elemental abilities.”

“That’s the gym looking area, right?” Hope asked, closing the door behind them. 

“Correct.” He stopped at his desk, grabbing a couple pieces of paper to hand to her. “The top one is your schedule. The classes aren’t hard to find, I promise. The other papers are topics of interest to look up. I’d like you to write a few papers on them, if you wouldn't mind.”

She looked up to him, confused. “These are optional?”

He smiled warmly at her. “I know you’re here to hone your powers, but I also heard from a certain someone that you like to be challenged. You were a good student back at home, were you not?” He continued when she nodded, “Good. The topics I’ve given you are on information that could become useful in the future. I’ve already spoken with Jean and Hank. You’re welcome to visit them whenever you wish in their labs. Jean does the medical work here, there’s a lot you could learn from her. Hank does research that you’ll find interesting, which you already know from the convention.”

She smirked, remembering the incident that happened years ago. “Yeah, yeah. Good times.”

Xavier nodded, “Eric was very powerful, even back then.”

Hope’s head snapped up. “What? How do you know?”

He smiled, looking to the paper in her hands. “Do you remember him telling you that there was another powerful telepath in the room, right before you left?”

Her eyes widened, “That was you?”

“That was me.” He chuckled, “Surprised me, to be quite honest. I made the connection when I heard you telling your story back at the Baxter Building. Hank and I weren’t used to someone trying to read our minds back then. Naturally, I wanted to talk to him, but you made a quick exit.” He furrowed his brow. “The place was a mess, when we left. No one could really explain why there was dirt and water everywhere.”

Hope blushed, looking to her hands. “Ah, yeah. That may have been me. I wasn’t too good at cleaning up after myself.”

He smiled, looking up at her once again. “Well, let’s hope you are now that you have a room here. If you have any questions at all, my door is always open, but I’m guessing you’ll find a happy place during your stay here. You’re already so in tune with your powers, I expect you’ll excel at an impeccable rate.”

She grinned, “Thanks, Professor. Classes start Monday, right?” He nodded, and she backed out of the room, waving to him. “Alright, see you then!” She turned back into the hallway, walking with confidence back to her room. The topics he had given her ranged anywhere from basic anatomy to which chemicals could be applied in a situation to neutralize poisonous powers. Sure, the classes may be boring and redundant, but this would give her something to do.

 _Ew, who gets excited writing about papers?_ Eric’s voice echoed in her mind, teasing her. She rolled her eyes, ignoring him as she unlocked the door to her room. Despite having a month to get used to her brother always listening in once again, it still bothered her whenever he spoke up. He could say all he wants, but this would probably help with Eric’s situation as well. Mastering the elements— _You’re totally the avatar_ —was one thing, manipulating spirits was a whole new one.

Also, it was about time she got with the times and figured out how to use a laptop.


	3. Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope makes a new friend and Johnny makes a mess of things.

"Who let grandma come back to school?"

"Seriously, she must have gotten held back since the stone age."

"I wonder if she was on the Titanic."

Hope sighed, settling lower into her seat as the voice next to her piped up again, setting off another chorus of giggles. Xavier was at the front of the class, purposefully ignoring them as he went on discussing the advantages of having a good defense as well as offense in your mind. 

_Don't listen to them._ Eric told her, feeling just as annoyed as her. _He's just mad he hasn't hit puberty yet._ Hope smiled, looking down at her desk. Okay, maybe having her brother in her head wasn't so bad.

"What are you smiling about?" The kid asked, freckled face frowning as he turned to look at her. "No mind reading in class, loser."

Hope looked over at him, baffled. "Did you seriously just call me a loser? What are you, twelve?"

"Try fifteen." He sneered, "Pick on someone your own size, old lady. You probably aren't even good enough to read my mind." His friend beside him laughed again.

"I would pick on someone my own size, but it seems none of you have hit your growth spurt yet." She replied smoothly, Eric perking up when the Professor looked their way. "None of you are mature enough to even think about picking on."

"Oh, I'm plenty mature, baby." He snarked right back, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head. "Come and get it anytime, I like 'em older."

Hope made a gagging noise just as the Professor turned his chair to face them. "Something going on back there that I should know about?"

Hope turned to look at the kid, instantly going into his mind once he was distracted. She poked around the edges quickly, finding the one spot he didn't have guarded. She pressed in, raising a single eyebrow. He froze in his seat, eyes comically wide as he realized what she was doing. His hands shot out to grab a binder and put it over his lap.

"Uh, n-nothing." The kid stuttered, struggling to keep his voice calm. "But, uh, can I go to the bathroom?"

Xavier frowned, nodding. The kid shot out of his seat, hurrying to the back, but not before the class noticed the wet spot on the back of his sweatpants. They all laughed as he slammed the door shut, Eric's laugh echoing the loudest.

"Something funny, Hope?" Xavier asked, an unamused look on his face.

Hope shrugged, crossing her arms in front of her as the kid's friends pointedly turned away. "Yeah, I guess he picked the wrong day to wear grey." The class laughed again, Xavier sending a warning thought, _Behave, please,_ her way before returning to the lecture. 

_Absolutely brilliant!_ Eric laughed, mentally giving her a high five. _Why haven't you done that before?!_ Hope shrugged, listening back in to Xavier with an innocent smile on her face.

After class, as she was walking back to her room with her folder tucked under her arm, her phone began to vibrate. She frowned, pulling it out of her sweatpants pocket and holding it up. _Eric, how do you answer again?_

_Swipe the green thing, I think. That's what Bruce thought, anyways._

_Thanks,_ She grinned, swiping the button. "Johnny! What's up?"

_"Hope! How's the nerd stuff going? You've officially survived a full week!"_

She laughed, "Nerd stuff is going good! A kid was bullying me, but I took care of him."

She heard Johnny snort, _"What'd you do? Set him on fire?"_

"No, I made him wet his pants in front of the class."

Johnny's laugh barked through the phone loudly, making her smile wider. _"That's hilarious! Oh God, he probably deserved it. Shows him not to mess with you!"_

"Yeah, yeah." She looked down at the stairs as she climbed up them, avoiding the students passing her. "So how's things back at the Baxter? Any cool new adventures?"

 _"Not really, which is why I'm calling you. Any plans tonight?"_ He didn't give her a chance to respond. _"Who am I kidding. You're probably planning on staying in and playing with that hologram thing Stark gave you. Wanna come out tonight?"_

"Come out where?" Hope asked warily, turning into her room and shutting the door behind her. She knew all too well Johnny could easily land them in a tough situation if they weren't careful.

_"It's a surprise! But a fun one, I promise."_

Hope paused, glancing at the papers on her desk. She was actually planning on starting research on one of the topics Xavier gave her. The whole situation involving mutant's DNA being used for disease research sounded really interesting—

 _"Hope, I know for a fact that you're thinking about doing something nerdy instead. Stop that right now, I'm coming to get you. Around like nine, hop out your window, and I'll be there to get you. Also, I'll bring an outfit, don't worry. Be ready!"_ With that, he hung up, making her sigh and toss her phone onto her bed. So much for having a quiet night in.

She set her folder down on the desk, pulling out the device Tony had given her that Bobby identified as an iPod touch. Apparently, they all had pitched in and chose a few songs to download onto there, each with their own playlist. The one note in the notepad app told her about how much they all were going to miss her and they hoped this would help with the distance. She snorted, sliding back to the music. Who knew they were so cheesy? She picked the playlist of _Tunes from the Stone Age (by Steve with help from Tony)_ , closed her eyes, and waited for nine o'clock to roll around.

\- - - - -

"So, mind telling me where we're going yet?" Hope asked, shifting uncomfortably in the car. She hated wearing shoes, never mind heeled boots. Who even came up with these things? "And why do you have me in this ridiculous outfit?"

Johnny gave her a look, "It's not ridiculous!" He turned the radio on the car down. "You look good. I need to have Sue take you shopping or something. Don't you ever get sick of wearing those sweatpants?"

Hope's nose crinkled up, "Not when the other option is jeans and a tight tank top. I'd rather be back in that t-shirt, too."

Johnny smirked, "Well, sucks. Deal with it tonight, because sweatpants are definitely not the attire here." He turned into a crowded parking lot, sliding his car into one of the only open spots. "We're meeting one of my friends here. He'll probably be coming with me to bust you out every once in a while, but he was already here tonight." Johnny moved to open the door, then stopped at the look Hope was giving him.

"You brought me to a bar?"

"Uh, yeah?" Johnny got out of the car, watching her. "Is that a problem?"

She laughed, "Johnny, I'm 19. I can't get in! I don't even have an ID to show them!"

He grinned, locking the car while she put on the leather jacket he had grabbed from Sue. "You see, I have a secret. I know the usual bouncer. And if he's not here, I figured you had your mind thing to let you in."

"Oh, so you were banking on me manipulating people?" She asked, and he nudged her, laughing.

"Stop complaining. It'll be fun, I promise." 

As Johnny predicted, the bouncer smiled and let them through, giving Johnny a pat on the back. They slid in between the crowd of people, Hope wondering why on earth Johnny had insisted on a jacket. The amount of people made it hot enough, and with Johnny's presence close to her side, she was burning up.

"Peter! Hey!"

A skinnier man turned around, brown hair spiked in all directions. He smiled and waved, gesturing to a table he had saved for them right next to the bar. Johnny grabbed Hope's shoulder and steered her over while Peter turned fully to grab Johnny's hand.

"Johnn-nay what's up?" He grinned, pocketing his glasses.

Johnny smiled back, wrapping his arm around Hope's shoulders. "Doing good! Peter, this is the chick I was telling you about. Hope, this is Peter, one of my best friends."

Hope smiled and reached to shake his hand, eyes flying open as they made contact. "Holy crap, you're Spiderman?"

"Shh!" Peter said, glancing around quickly while Johnny laughed. "Come on, dude, you know no one can hear us. Besides, Hope could just make them forget it."

Peter's eyes widened slightly. "You can do that, too?"

Johnny leaned closer, placing a hand on his shoulder. "How do you think she got in here?"

Hope punched his arm, making him laugh while she turned to Peter. "Yes, I can do that, but no, Johnny knows the bouncer." He nodded, looking relieved, and the bartender leaned over to yell at them.

"Can I get you guys something?" She smiled at Johnny, who returned it. 

"Yeah, two drafts of the house brew and just a water for me." She winked at him, moving to get their order while Hope frowned at Johnny.

"You aren't drinking?"

He shrugged, leaning an arm on the table. "Can't get drunk, my body temperature's too hot. So what's the point?"

Hope glanced at Peter, then turned to Johnny. "Peter thinks I could fix that."

Peter sat up, "What? How did you—" while Johnny frowned at her. "Really? How so?"

"Tell him, Pete." Hope smiled, leaning on the table. 

Peter swallowed, clearly off-put by her mind-reading. She made a mental note to not do it too often. "Well, I mean, based on everything you've told me, she's crazy powerful, mentally speaking. So if she can erase memories and even control people's bodies, why not alter them? The bodies, I mean."

Hope grinned slyly at him. "Peter's smart. I like him." She turned to Johnny quickly. "What do you say? Want me to try? It might hurt."

Johnny watched her for a moment, then stood a bit straighter. "Yeah, sure, why not." Hope grinned up at him, placing a hand on his chest. "Just make sure you keep breathing, it'll make it easier on your body."

"Well you copping a feel certainly isn't helping." Johnny replied snidely, then flinched when she hit him. "Ow! Violence is not the answer." Hope gave him a look, then closed her eyes, searching in his mind for the section that held his abilities. She passed by the surface layer, glancing curiously at a few purple sparks that flashed by before heading deeper. Once there, she pressed slowly into one of the cracks, looking down further into his core. She felt him shift beneath her hand, so she located his body temperature quickly—and holy crap, was he hot. His stable temperature was well above 200 degrees, but he had the ability to go much higher. She frowned, accessing his temperature, and notch by notch, turned him down until he was at 120 degrees. She stopped, afraid to go much lower. How would it affect him?

Hope opened her eyes, looking up at him warily. He shook his head, hands immediately going into his pockets. "Is it cold in here or is it just me?"

Hope smirked, giving Peter a smile. "Give it a few minutes, you'll be fine." In turn, she took her jacket off, setting it on the stool beside them just as the bartender returned with their drinks. Johnny stopped her with a hand on her arm, "Actually, I change my mind. Can I get two drafts and a round of tequila shots?" The bartender smiled again, returning to the bar to grab the order.

"Going hard, then?" Peter asked with a smile, grabbing his own beer. 

"Hey, go hard or go home!" Johnny told him, grinning as the shots were brought over. "Besides, I haven't been able to drink in years. Might as well enjoy it while I can!"

Three beers and four shots later, Johnny was definitely enjoying it.

"You guys are seriously the best." Johnny told them, hand slamming down forcefully on the table. "Like, everyone else I know is so old but you guys are cool! And you'll go out with me!"

Peter made a face, carefully sliding the rest of Johnny's beer away from him. "Who would have guessed the mighty human torch was a lightweight?"

"Aw, cut him a break, Pete." Hope grinned, swirling the ice in the water she snagged from Johnny. "It has been a while."

"Exactly!" Johnny pointed to Hope. "You're right, you're so right. You're always right, Hope." He threw an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into an unstable side hug. "You're so great. Thank you so much for making me drunk."

"I think you made yourself drunk." She snorted, looking to Peter, who had been checking his phone for the past few minutes. "You got somewhere you need to be?"

"Uh, yeah, kinda." He offered an apologetic smile. "I have an interview early tomorrow. With my own boss, but an interview regardless."

"We can call it a night!" She laughed, trying and failing to steady Johnny's weight against her. "I think our friend has had quite enough to drink."

"Yes, he has." Peter agreed, smiling as he walked over to pay the bill. Hope attempted to get Johnny to drink some of her water, but it was hopeless. All he seemed to be able to do was complain about how old everyone was and how old he did not want to be.

"You good to drive?" Peter asked her as they walked out into the parking lot, his keys already in hand.

"Yeah, go get some sleep." Hope smiled. "Good luck at your interview!" Peter waved, walking off in the opposite direction and calling out a, "Nice to meet you!" She directed them towards the back, Johnny stumbling along beside her. She got them all the way to the side of the car before Johnny stopped talking, taking a step back from her to glare at her.

"Wait, you can't drive."

"I can drive better than you right now." She snorted, reaching for his pocket.

"No, like, wait wait _wait_." He grabbed her hand, brow furrowed as he slurred his way through his sentence. "You don't have a license? So, no, you can't drive. Have you ever even driven a car before?"

"You have." She told him, moving his hand so she could grab his keys. "I can use your memories to drive. Thank God your car is automatic." She unlocked the car, guiding a still confused Johnny into the passenger seat. "It'll be fine, promise. Can you buckle yourself in?" After seeing his nod, she slammed his door shut, fidgeting with the keys in her hand. Could she really drive?

"Can you really do that?" Johnny asked as soon as she sat down, making her snort while she grabbed her own seat belt.

"Can I really do what?"

"Use people's memories to do things." He elaborated, hands clenched tightly in his lap to the water bottle he had found by his feet. 

"Yeah, I can. In theory." She frowned, turning the ignition. After scooting the chair up an embarrassing six inches, she finally put it in reverse, moving very slowly out of the tight space.

"That's crazy!" Johnny laughed, sitting back in his seat heavily. She sighed, putting the car in drive, finding it difficult to read his mind while he was drunk. All she needed was the directions to his place, but he was still focused on her powers.

"So like, if you've never flown a plane, you could." He told her, and she nodded, pulling out onto the street. Okay, maybe driving wasn't so hard. If only it was acceptable to drive fifteen under the speed limit.

"Oh wait, what about like, sex and stuff?" He said, eyes wide. "Because like, you'd be the ultimate porn star. Or superhero! You can smash things just by reading someone's mind!"

She grimaced, not wanting to follow the path his mind was taking. "Not quite. Smashing things isn't in my ability."

"But the sex thing—"

"Yeah, yeah, I could. Can we talk about something else?" Hope shifted in the seat, the topic and the cars passing her making her uneasy. "How about Peter? How did you meet him?" _Anything to get off that topic._

"Oh, at college." Johnny grinned, looking out the window. "We were roommates before we both dropped out to become super people. He works at the newspaper now as a photographer and I just kind of, you know, put things on fire." His eyes lit up, looking over to her once more. "Like you! You have fire powers!"

"That I do." She smirked, quickly picking up speed as she got the hang of this. He was staying at the Baxter building, which wasn't too much further away. Hopefully, he'd be in bed and resting up soon.

"We'd be such a good team, like honestly." He laughed again, nearly dropping the water bottle. "Two pyro...pyrokin...fire people. Two fire people just burning things."

"I don't think that's what superheroes do." Hope smiled fully, "Unfortunately, we can't just set things on fire all the time."

He sighed, looking out the window. "You sound just like Sue." She laughed again, and Johnny was quiet until they made it to the building, leaning on her again as they got into the elevator, humming along to the quiet music. Once upstairs, she followed the path in his mind as his humming turned into full on belting out lyrics to a song she didn't recognize. She pulled him along quickly, hoping his loud steps and singing weren't waking anyone else up.

 _"Don't you want me baby!"_ Johnny sang as she closed his bedroom door behind them, _"Don't you want me, ohhh!"_

"Johnny, shut up!" She giggled, pushing him towards his bed. "You're going to wake everyone else up!"

"Ha--whoa whoa." He fell backwards onto the bed, leaning on his elbows with wide eyes. "Are you about to get in bed with me?"

"What? No." Hope made a face, "I'm taking your shoes off. You can sleep in your jeans for all I care."

Johnny pouted, kicking his feet like a toddler as soon as Hope had set his shoes by his nightstand. "Aw. I thought you did care."

"What's that supposed to mean, Storm?" She rolled her eyes, pulling back his covers for him so he could slide in easier.

"You're nice. Like, really nice." His voice was going slower, finally growing tired as his head rested on the pillows. "A lot nicer than some jungle girl should be. You're nice to me." 

A flash of purple sparked behind his eyes, gone so quick that Hope thought she imagined it. She pressed into his mind, but found nothing as he closed his eyes, snuggling deeper into his covers. She put her hand on his chest, watching as he smiled while she went deeper, down to his temperature.

"Jungle girl. Should call you Mowgli or something." He sighed, setting his hand on top of hers. "My good Mowgli. My little mind reader."

She blushed, pulling her hand out from beneath his as soon as his temperature was back to normal. He kicked the covers off almost as soon as she stood up, mumbling something about it being hot before she turned towards his window, quickly lifting it up. She turned to look back one more time at his sleeping figure, then jumped out, using the air currents to keep her afloat while she closed the window. One more lingering glance, then she was turning, flying back to the school and to her own bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha i love writing johnny. him and hope go so well together. it's so great.
> 
> peter's also an added bonus. get ready to see more of him. (:


	4. Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Look out, another plot twist!

Fireball after fireball flew from her hands, sweat beading up on her forehead as she threw the flaming orbs at target after target, all with increasing speed and strength.

 _Come on, Hope._ Eric taunted in her mind. _You can do better than that!_

Hope grimaced, already annoyed by the intense training routine and having little patience for her brother. The burst of emotion caused the fireballs to turn white hot, completely incinerating every target that was thrown into the air. _How's that for better?_

The three beep tone sounded, signaling the end of the training session. She threw another fireball half-heartedly at the last target before dropping her arms, breathing heavily. Even though the training room was kept at a cool 65 degrees and she was wearing a tank top, sweat had built up on her skin, giving it a nice sheen as the lights brightened and Hank walked into the room.

"Very, very good, Hope!" He grinned, bringing a clip board in with him. "Over the past two weeks, your accuracy has improved to only a 15 percent miss rate. That's very good for someone who's had as little training as you."

"Yeah, training." Hope snorted, hands on her hips. "I still had to use my powers out in the real world, though. That counts as training, too."

Hank nodded, a small smile on his face. "Well, that as well. But you were registering higher temperatures than your previous times. Any particular reason?"

 _Because she gets annoyed easily by her little brother._ Eric offered cheerily in her head, a mocking smile on his face. _Or because she has literally one of the worst tempers in the whole world._

"Just felt extra motivated." She shrugged, fingers drumming impatiently against her pants line. The training pants were tight and light weight, looking a lot like the leggings Sue had worn on her days when she wasn't working. They caused less air resistance, were resistant to heat, water, ice, and magnetic energy. Still, she thought, the suit from the Fantastic Four was much better, even if the extra exposure to heat had caused it to turn into a faded grey-blue color.

"Keep up that energy level." Hank pointed at her, then looked to his clipboard. "Do you mind if I have you go over your earth abilities? There's a couple readings I want to make on your body levels as you do them."

"Yeah, sure." She shrugged again, settling back into a ready stance. It was a Wednesday, so it wasn't like she had anything better to do. Besides, most of the other kids had gone up to dinner or to hang out in the common areas by now, so she and Hank had the training simulator to themselves to try things out.

Her training had continued as normal in the past two weeks, but it was soon discovered that the basic fighting and manipulative techniques that so many elementals were working on came easily to her. Xavier moved her up to harder classes, but the basic four elements weren't enough to challenge her. That's when Hank had proposed a new training regime. 

Warren had mentioned that she was able to bend steel, Xavier confirming it, recalling his encounter with Idril. The Light Elf had told them that her abilities would only continue to grow, and Hank had a theory he wanted to pursue. So he and Hope had set up a session three times a week where he was going to work with her and help further the finer points in her abilities, such as steel, ice, and the kinetic motion of the rocks she could make.

It was going fantastic, especially after this past Monday when she and Hank had figured out that with enough concentration, she could create lava ("It's more of a plasma type substance, however," Hank had told her.) instead of fire. Today, however, they were working on her fine motor skills.

Hank nodded and returned to the control room, the beeping as he changed the settings bringing Hope out of her memories. She placed her feet shoulder width apart, still feeling the energy thrumming through her veins.

"How's the glorified fruit ninja going?"

Hope started, glancing over her shoulder before rolling her eyes. "Don't you have somewhere else to be, Rogue?" Not to mention she had no idea what fruit ninja even was.

Rogue frowned, pushing her hair out of her face. "Anybody can use the training room, Hope. It's fair game."

"Not currently." Hope told her, rolling her shoulders as she faced away from her once again. "Hank and I have a session."

Before Rogue could respond, Hank walked back out, a calm smile on his face. "Hello, Rogue! Sorry, but we're using this room. I believe the one next door is available?" Rogue stood for a moment, as if she wanted to say more, then sighed and turned away, slamming the door shut behind her.

"I had that under control." Hope grumbled, looking down at her toes.

"I'm sure you did, but it never helps to have someone she'll actually listen to intervene, eh?" Hank rumbled, his smile making Hope smirk.

"Yeah, guess so." She looked up, "Ready to go?"

"Yes! Yes, it's all set up." Hank pulled the chair from the control room out onto the mats. "Mind if I sit out here and watch? I'm sure you have enough control by now that I won't be hit by any stray debris." Hope smiled, nodding before settling again as she started the sequence.

Green hologram rings popped up, signaling that Hope was to be throwing rocks through them. Target practice? Again? With a sigh, Hope rooted herself into the ground, feet becoming steady and sure as she summoned her earth abilities. She cocked her arm back, feeling a rock swirl into existence in her palm. Again, her accuracy was near perfect, as were the fifteen targets that followed.

She heard a click off to her left, watching warily as Hank ended it early. She watched him for an explanation, waiting as he asked, "Hope, could you build a sandcastle for me?"

"Can I do what?" She asked, finding no answer in the sheen on his glasses. She didn't even bother reading his or Xavier's mind anymore, they'd become much more defensive once she had come around.

"Build a sandcastle, right there." He used a laser pointer, making a haphazard circle on the floor a few feet in front of her. "If you could."

 _Is he making a challenge for you?_ Eric snorted, and Hope grimaced.

_I've never been asked to make sand before, is that what he's testing?_

_Either way, are you going to back down?_

Face set in a determined line, Hope raised both palms to face the area, thinking along the same way as making rocks. Except, smaller. Because that's what sand was, right? Oddly enough, a pile of sand slowly grew in front of her, reaching about two feet in height before she realized why it didn't look like anything. Sand was easy enough to make, but she needed to use water in order for it to mold into something. Just as the first ball of water appeared in her palm, Hank stopped her.

"No, use something else to hold it together." She frowned again, making the water disappear. How could she get the sand to stick together? She chanced a glance at Hank again, but his expressionless face was no help. She raised her hand, trying to sense the tiny pieces of sand in front of her. Closing her eyes, she was able to focus better, all at once feeling the essence of every single grain. Picturing a castle in her mind, she pulled the sand, going grain by grain at first, then more and more grains moving into the form she had pictured in her mind.

"Very good!" Hank exclaimed, pushing his glasses back up his nose. "Really, very impressive." Hope grinned, letting out a restless breath. While making the sand had been easy, holding it all together like that was tiresome. 

"Now, a couple questions." Hank looked up to her, removing his glasses. "When you're creating the rocks and sand, where do they come from?"

Hope furrowed her brow, answering honestly. "I'm not sure. I just kind of imagine it appearing, and it does."

"But as I'm sure you're well aware, matter cannot be created out of nothing." Hank stated slowly, watching her carefully. Hope remained quiet, looking back to the sandcastle. "So it raises an interesting point. Where is the sand coming from?"

 _Didn't you have a theory about this when we were younger?_ Hope asked Eric, but he was silent, strangely focused on Hank.

Hank sat straighter, "Hope, I'd like you to try something. And it's going to be hard, and probably a little scary, but we need to try it." She looked up to him, worried, but nodded anyways. "Good, alright. You just have to trust me on this." He paused, then clasped his hands tighter together. "I want you to try and turn your hand into rock."

"What?" She asked, but Hank shook his head.

"Don't think about it. Just look at your hand, and imagine it turning into rock just as you imagined sand appearing."

Hope stared at him for a moment, wondering if he was crazy. But she did trust him, as insane as it sounded. She raised her hand slowly in front of her face, ignoring how much it was shaking. Eric pressed in harder in her mind, just as curious.

 _Rock. Just think of rock._ She took a deep breath, focusing. A tingling began in her fingertips, and her eyes widened as she watched rock form first on her fingernails, slowly spreading, sending the dark, hard, grey surface crackling down until it had reached halfway down her forearm. She wiggled her fingers, in awe as she was still able to make a fist.

"Now turn it to sand." 

She flexed again, focusing—and crying out in surprise when her hand crumbed and turned to sand, falling down to the floor in a pile.

"What the hell!" She screamed, staring at where her hand had been just moments before. Now, only a nub remained, the end hardened like a polished stone.

 _Kind of looks like sea glass._ Eric commented, and Hope screamed aloud in frustration. 

_Not the time, Eric!_

"Hank!" Hope pleaded, looking to him with wild eyes. "What the hell? What the hell do I do?"

"Calm down, Hope." He stood, walking over with a worried look on his face. "You can do this, calm down."

"Do what?!" She shrieked, looking down to her arm once again. "My hand is gone!"

"Hope, look at it." He told her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Imagine your hand there again. Imagine the bones, the tendons, the muscles. You've been looking at anatomy recently, right?" She nodded quickly, tears building in her eyes. What if it didn't grow back?

"Just focus, Hope. Breathe." 

She nodded, looking down to her arm once more. She pictured her anatomy notes, parts of the hand and wrist pointed out with little arrows and highlighted so she could study better. She bit her lip, praying it worked.

Slowly, the tingling sensation began again, spreading upwards through her arm. The sea glass on the edge of her arm shifted, then dissolved into a deep, dark red, bone protruding from the center of it. The bone grew upwards, the second one quickly following, all the while being slowly surrounded with muscle and tendon as it grew upwards into the shape of her hand.

"There you go." Hank breathed, watching with wide eyes as her fingers formed, skin growing quickly and finishing off at the top. Neither of them moved for a second, then Hope wiggled her fingers, a small squeak leaving her lips.

"That's my hand." She whispered, still staring at it like it might disappear any second. "I just regrew my hand."

"You didn't regrow it." Hank told her, taking his hands off her shoulders finally. "You created it."

She looked up at him, frozen in place while Eric sat back in her mind, thoughts dark and obscured from her. Hank sighed and shook his head, turning to go back to his clipboard that he had thrown aside earlier.

"It's both much better and much worse than I thought." He said quietly, looking down to his notes.

"What do you mean I created it?" Hope asked quietly, feet not moving from where she had planted herself. Whether it was out of fear or from the residual build up of energy within her, she didn't know.

"I had a theory from the moment I met you." He told her, sitting down in his chair once again. "The fact that you could create the elements in such a pure form, from nothing, was nothing short of incredible. Most mutants with elemental abilities require some sort of kickstarter, per se." He avoided eye contact with her, ignoring as she looked down at her hands.

"You, however, can create fire in your hand. Your water appears whenever you need it. You can create rock from quite literally nothing. And you have no idea where it comes from?" He looked up, and she shook her head, still silent. He sighed, "Hope, I think you can do more than just control the elements. Whatever you can do runs much deeper than manipulating them. You seem to be altering matter itself."

"That's why you brought up the laws of matter?" Hope's voice cracked. "You can't create—Because you think I'm—"

"You can't create it." He told her firmly. "That's been proven several times over. You can, however, change matter. And that's exactly what you seem to be doing when you use the elements. You're changing the molecule's physical form into whatever you need them to be. That's how you were able to rebuild your arm. That sand on the floor below you, that used to be your arm, but it is now sand. What your hand is now is whatever elements were in the air above your arm. You changed them into the muscles and skin that is there now."

"That's not right." Hope frowned, still shaky. "That can't be. No one's that powerful."

He gave a bitter laugh, looking down to his papers once more. "Or so we thought. Yet you continue to surprise us, Hope. What ever will we discover next?"

Hope let out a shaky breath, looking down at her hand once more. All of the scar tissue and callouses that had built up over the years were gone, replaced by brand new, fresh skin. The thought terrified her.

Hank left soon after, saying he had a lot to do. Hope let him go easily, still shaken up. The scared feeling from what had just happened mixed with her pent up energy was a terrible combination, and she needed to take care of that.

Whenever she used her element powers in excess, she had a build up of energy after, as if the more she used it, the more it wanted to be used. It was like an adrenaline high, with your very bones thrumming with how hard your heart is beating.

She padded into one of the rooms at the very end of the training wing, the smallest of them. It was her favorite for calming down, the smaller walls and lower ceilings providing a sense of an enclosed space. In the forest, it'd be the space under a fallen log. In the Avenger's mansion, it was one of the rooms in the basement. Here, she'd had to make do and find a new one.  
She dimmed the lights as she walked in, tossing her jacket and shoes off to the side as she closed the door.

 _Hope, how can you do yoga at a time like this?_ Eric asked, still on edge. She could feel his energy only adding to hers.

 _This is the exact time when I need to do it._ She told him, taking a deep breath in as she began her sun salutation. _I need to like, decompress. De-stress and all that. It helps get rid of the energy._

 _Why would you get rid of it?_ He snorted, giving the same argument he'd had since he had first came back. _It's energy, it's power. Imagine how strong you'd be if you kept all of that energy!_

 _Imagine how insane I'd be._ She retorted, watching her new hand carefully as she balanced herself on it. She was positive if she didn't release this energy so often, she'd explode. Probably quiet literally.

_Besides, I'm pretty sure that's how normal energy flow works with Earth stuff. You only take what you need, the rest goes elsewhere._

_Okay, hippie._ Eric snorted, and Hope grimaced. The new hand worked just as well as her old one. In fact, despite it missing the huge scar she had accumulated at the battle in the woods on her arm, it was exactly the same.

She tuned her brother out for the remainder of her yoga, ending on a meditation. She felt all of the anxiousness literally seep into the ground, dispersing and disappearing as it hit the dirt nearly 20 feet below the floor.

So she could create things. No, not create, she thought. She could alter matter. Change it into whatever she wanted. Vaguely, she remembered Idril mentioning something about how her powers would only continue to progress over time.

She frowned as she stood up, sliding on her jacket but keeping her shoes in her hand as she walked up the hallway and to her room. Was there a limit to how powerful she could get? Even more terrifying, was there a purpose to her becoming so powerful?

_You sound like Reed._

Hope smirked as she sat on her bed. Reed was always paranoid, always trying to find an explanation. Maybe she should just relax, let it go. There was plenty of time to figure it out.

A soft ping sounded, the screen of her phone lighting up. She smiled at the text from Johnny, asking if she wanted to go out this weekend. She responded, using the emojis Bobby had shown her how to use.

She tossed her phone aside, turning on the hologram projector and pulling up her anatomy notes. She dimmed the lights and leaned back in her bed, watching the purple forms swirl above her as a holographic arm was created.

Yeah, she had plenty of time to figure it all out. For now, she'd just focus on learning how to make pizza appear when she wanted. Johnny would love that.

 

\- - - - -

 

Hope kicked at the edge of her bed again, sitting restlessly on her desk chair. Johnny was coming again tonight to take her out, but she still had quite a few hours before he and Peter would be here. Because of that, she was bored, and this tiny dorm room filled with practically nothing was not helping at all.

 _You know,_ Eric started, his voice interrupting her train of thought. _You could be using this time to start looking for someone to put my spirit in._

 _I still don't know if I'm comfortable with this._ Hope responded, grimacing. _I'd have to completely get rid of that person in order for it to work. How could I deem someone disposable enough to do that?_

 _No, look, it'd be easy._ Eric brought forth images in her mind of a wikipedia page. _I've been looking into it. Technically, we could probably keep the person almost alive, like in suspended animation. Also, it's virtually harmless...in theory._

She rolled her eyes, pushing away the images. _Okay, but what good is suspended animation if you're just gonna be using his body? Yeah, we're not killing him, but essentially we still are._

 _Keep looking._ Eric growled, frustrated. Hope recoiled from the anger in his voice. _I'll help point people out to you but it's you that needs to do this. Just find a guy, similar in age, and do it._

Just outside of her door, Hope felt someone pause, debating whether to knock. _We'll talk later._ She lifted an eyebrow, pushing deeper, only to recognize it as Rogue. She opened the door with a flick of her finger, revealing a surprised looking Rogue standing in the doorway.

"Oh. Should've figured you'd know I was here." She started sheepishly, blushing a bit. "May I come in?"

Hope paused a second, then nodded, pushing the second chair out with her mind so Rogue could have a place to sit. Rogue sat carefully, fiddling with her glove.

"So." Hope started for her. "Are you gonna tell me why you're here or do I need to find out?" She smiled, uncrossing her arms in an attempt to seem approachable. She and Rogue had never really gotten along, and she assumed it was because of the way Wolverine had treated her when Hope first arrived.

"Yeah, sorry." Rogue blushed again, still looking at her hands. "Um, look. I know we didn't really get off on the right foot, and it's mostly my fault. Bobby told me it was rude of me to treat you that way, so this is me coming to apologize, I suppose." She finally looked up, setting her hands firmly on her lap. "Sorry for being rude, and all. I know you don't really have many friends and I was kind of hoping I could help change that."

Hope smiled, setting her feet on the ground. "That's really sweet of you, Rogue. Yeah, apology accepted." Rogue smiled back, then stood up out of her chair. 

"Hey, Johnny's coming to get you soon, right?"

Hope frowned. "How—How did you know?"

Rogue grinned. "You aren't the only telepath. My roommate heard Johnny a couple weekends ago. But don't worry, secret's safe with me." Hope laughed, and Rogue continued, "So, what do you say I do your hair for you? Maybe some make-up?"

She frowned, "Make-up? Why?"

Rogue shrugged. "It's what girls wear when they go out. Plus, Johnny's a cutie, so you gotta look cute for him. Come on," Rogue grabbed her arm, pulling her behind her down the hall and ignoring her protests. "You'll look great when I'm done with you."

Two hours later, Hope almost didn't recognize the girl in the mirror. Gone were the surly and untamed curls; straight, shiny hair was in its place, reaching well past her shoulders now. Her dark eyelashes stood out even more now, the shimmery copper eyeshadow making her grey eyes shine.

"You sure I look okay?" She asked, spinning to look at her butt in the mirror. The tight, black jeans reminded her of her training suit she had received from the Fantastic Four, the material clinging to her legs all the way down until they hit the low-heeled boots that Sue had given her when she left for the school. "I don't think I really need the jacket, the bar is usually super hot inside."

"Which is why I gave you the tank-top." Rogue explained, tugging on the hem of the shirt. "You can keep it. It looks better on you anyways, you got more curves than I do." Hope gave her a worried look again, unsure if that was a compliment. The white tank top was low-cut, but was super flowy and a tad see through.

"Seriously, you look great." Rogue smiled at her before pushing her toward the door. "Now you go have fun with your boys, Joanne and I need to get some sleep." She smiled once more, "Be safe!" Hope smiled at her, turning to creep down the silent hallway. All the lights were out, and she kept her room dark as she sat on her bed below the window, waiting for Johnny to signal her that he was here. 

_Hope, ready?_

She grinned, the thought pressing into her mind gently, as if he was unsure if she'd be asleep or not. _Yeah!_ She turned and pushed the window up, sitting on the ledge before jumping and allowing the wind to set her down easy. She flicked her finger, window shutting silently before she turned to look at Johnny.

He sat there, eyes wide while Peter's mouth was open. They were about ten feet away on the lawn, both in their usual jeans and t-shirts. Hope froze, subconsciously tugging at the jacket. Was it too much?

"Wow." Johnny said, voice barely above a whisper. "Nice to see you getting dressed up for me." He smiled up at her, then his eyes flashed the purple color again, and he grimaced. "Better keep an eye on Peter, who knows what he'll try with a shirt like that on you." Hope sighed, a little disappointed. Peter gave Johnny a look, then they all turned to walk down to the edge of the driveway where the car was waiting. Hope climbed in the backseat, almost letting out a scream when she saw someone was sitting next to her.

"Holy shit!" She gasped, hand settling on her chest. Johnny started cracking up, turning around in the passenger seat while Peter started the car with a smile.

"Not used to being surprised, huh?" Johnny asked, grinning broadly. Hope shook her head, turning back to look at the man. How had she not sensed him? 

"Nice to meet you, too." The guy snorted, offering his hand. Hope took it, pressing in quickly. Immediately, she was lost in a swirl of thoughts, jumping around before her until she let out a breath, pulling back. His mind was like nothing she'd ever seen. For starters, she could barely read his mind once he had let go of her hand. Also, instead of the usual organization and pathways, his mind was like a library, able to pull bits of information to read from where ever—and when ever, she noted, seeing a book called, "Avengers, 1960's". 

"Do you have dementia?" Hope blurted out, eyes wide as she left his mind to stare at him. Johnny groaned in the front seat, "Sorry, dude. We're still working on her social skills. She didn't really have a whole lot of people interaction when she lived in the woods."

The guy laughed, "Nah, it's cool. Believe it or not, people have said worse." He furrowed his brow at her though, "How'd you know?"

"Mind reader." Hope answered quickly, still astounded. "I'm Hope, nice to meet you."

She saw his eyes narrow beneath the brim of his cap. "Hope? Wait, I'm supposed to meet a Hope someday, a real bad one. Is that you?"

Hope let out a light laugh, looking into his mind. He had pulled out a book, reading a synopsis of his own future and...as a comic book? He could read ahead? What the hell?

"No, I'm Hope Banner. That's a different one." She pressed again, searching herself until she found a book and opened it for him. She watched his mind-self turn until he was holding it and laughed even harder. "I'm this Hope. Check out Chapter Four."

His face lit up, and Johnny gave them both a look. "Okay, Wade, Hope? You guys wanna stop with the crazy talk?"

"Told you we shouldn't have brought him." Peter snorted, turning into the downtown streets. "They're just gonna do weird mind-stuff all night."

"Am not!" Wade argued. "Deadpool doesn't do weird mind-stuff. I came out to have a good time, Peter, and I'm honestly feeling so attacked right now." Everyone stared at him, and he sighed, sitting back and waving a hand. "Internet joke, you guys wouldn't get it."

Hope's smile lit up brighter, turning to look at Johnny. _He's so cool, honestly. How come I haven't met him before?_

Johnny smirked in the front seat, looking out the window. _I don't know if you've noticed, but scar-face here doesn't really go out much._

Hope turned to glance at Wade, who appeared to be reading an imaginary book and laughing about, "Salvation, how self-important can you sound?" She saw it better now, as the city lights reflected on him. She had been so focused on his mind that she hadn't even gotten a good look at him. Terrible scars ran down the side of his face, barely covered by the shadow of his hat. In a dim bar, no one would probably notice, but it made sense that he wouldn't go out much.

"Hey, back here, in your first book." Wade whispered, leaning closer to Hope. "Why'd you do that thing to Matchstick?"

Hope frowned, pressing into his mind to see what he was talking about. Surprised, she watched as he pointed to a paragraph about her erasing the memory of her and Johnny kissing from his mind. How the hell did he know? "It was for the better." She told him, looking up to Johnny. Although, as she saw the purple flash reflect in the side of the window, she bit her lip. Was it really?

They reached the place soon enough, walking into the sports bar and snagging a booth on the edge of the room. Johnny ordered a round of beers for everyone after asking Hope to turn his temperature down again. She watched him carefully, hoping no one else had noticed the weird purple in his eyes every time their legs bumped under the table.

 

\- - - - -

 

"Yeah, nothing too exciting going on at school." Hope laughed, snagging the paper football from Johnny's hands. "Honestly, all I do is train. The only person I really talk to there is Hank, since Logan's always out doing missions and stuff. So besides seeing you guys on the weekends, I don't do anything. Meeting Wade the other week was definitely the highlight." She flicked the paper football and it flew easily through the air and straight through the field goals Peter held up with his fingers.

"Well, you're lucky we like you enough to hang out with you, then." Johnny sniffed, holding up his fingers for Peter. "Is your training doing good?"

"Doing well, but yeah!" Hope grinned, sensing that he was wondering when she'd be able to graduate. "Hank and I have tapped into a ton of new things that my earth powers allow me to do. I've been there, what, almost two months now? With a few more weeks I should be good to go!"

"Ugh, we have to sneak you out for a few more weeks?" Peter rolled his eyes, then shot her a smile. "I guess I can live with that."  
"You're like, so powerful." Johnny snorted, shooting Hope a grin. "Can't believe we get to be in your presence, O Mighty One."

Hope laughed, "No, I'm not! I'm no where near as powerful as any of the Avengers."

With a groan, Johnny sat back, scanning the room. "God, you're like chronically humble." Peter laughed, looking over to Hope.

Hope grinned back, shifting in her seat as she turned her attention back to the room. They were in their usual bar at their usual table, and Johnny had already flirted with four different girls. Hope sighed and turned away as he did so again, looking to Peter as she said, "I think I'm gonna go dance."

Peter's eyes glanced at Johnny, then shifted back to her as he nodded. "Yeah, cool, we'll be here." Not even bothering to scan his mind, she stood, leaving her red and black flannel at the table before making her way to the dance floor. Everyone there was crowded tight, all swaying along to the beat of some song Hope didn't know. While Johnny had been trying to catch her up, she was still way behind on the current pop culture hits.

Someone jostled her from behind as she began dancing, making her turn around with a frown to see who had done it. As her eyes landed on the head of dark hair, she froze, eyes growing wide. Something about him seemed so familiar, which was weird, considering the only people she knew had been back in middle school. And yet, his tan skin and dark eyes as he turned to look at her as well unsettled something within her, and as they made eye contact, her heart clenched tightly.

Eric stirred in her mind, voice quiet. Oh, no way.

"Aaron?" She said, eyes wide in disbelief. "Aaron Garcia?" As the young man faced her fully, a quick read-through of his mind confirmed it for her.

"Oh, no way! Hope!" He shouted, moving immediately to wrap her in a hug. Hope laughed, squeezing tightly before he pulled away and asked, "God, how are you? It's been years!"

"Yeah, been a bit, hasn't it?" She laughed, pushing her hair behind her ears. "I've been good! What are you doing in New York?"

"School." He shrugged, his smile the same as it had been when she had first met him in the seventh grade. While his eyes were the same deep brown, his brown hair was now much shorter, cut in a way that reminded her of Tony. And he was tall—how did he get so tall? He must've been close to 6'5" now. "I got a scholarship for baseball out here and figured it was time to get out of that small town." He leaned closer to her, the loud music of the bar still blasting in the air around them. "What about you? Didn't really expect to see you again after everything that happened."

"Everything that happened?" Hope asked, confused.

Aaron nodded, nervously. Even though they had been best friends, it seemed like something was troubling him. "Yeah, uh, with your family passing away and all that. It's crazy how that all happened, no one in our town had ever seen anything like it..."

Hope bit her lip, struggling to keep her face neutral as she scanned his mind. She saw the news reports, of him going with his mother to confirm that the dead bodies were her family, felt his pain as he realized his two closest friends were either dead or missing. She saw the pictures of the murders on the news, saw practically the entire school at their funeral. So many people had asked why she wasn't there, and she saw a man in a suit say that she had been taken someplace else to ensure her safety.   
She had known her brother was dead—or, used to be—but her parents? While it had always been in the back of her mind as a possibility, she never thought she would be right.

"...And all they would tell us is that you'd gone to live with your uncle." Aaron was saying, pulling her back to the present. He set his hand on her shoulder, eyes as gentle as she remembered them. "For like, your own safety and stuff. They even had to change your number."

"Yeah, yeah." Hope nodded, pushing her sorrow to the back of her mind. She could dwell on it later. "I do, his name is Bruce. I'm working with him at his job, studying and stuff. It's been great. I mean, it was hard at first, but, you know, time to adjust and all that."

_Hope, he's perfect._

Hope started, smiling as she pretended to listen to Aaron talk about his school. _Perfect for what?_

 _Perfect for me!_ Eric responded, showing her along the link to Aaron's mind. _Look, he's crazy about mutants, thinks they're super cool. And he's strong. He'd be the perfect body to put me into._

 _You have to be kidding._ Hope's mouth almost dropped open. _Eric, he was our friend! You can't just do that to him!_

_Well, not right now, obviously. We'd have to make sure he was okay with it. And after a few months of working with you, I'm positive he would be._

"So are you staying far from here?" Aaron was asking, pulling her out of the conversation in her mind. "My college isn't that far, and I'd love to catch up sometime."

Before Hope could answer, Johnny was throwing his arm around her shoulders, giving Aaron a look. "What's going on, Hope?" She could sense he was feeling protective, and she smirked as she pointed to Aaron.

"Johnny, this is Aaron! We went to school together, back in Oregon."

"Oh." Johnny visibly relaxed, offering his hand to Aaron, who took it with a grin. "Nice to meet you."

"You as well." He turned back to look at Hope. "But yeah, grabbing lunch or something would be cool."

"Totally!" Hope forced the smile, pulling her phone out of her pocket. "Just put your number in, I'll text you a few days when I'm free."

"Sounds good!" Aaron handed back the phone, and Hope pocketed it before tapping Johnny on the side.

"Alright, well Johnny and I were just about to head out." She smiled apologetically. "It was so great to see you again though!" She waved to him, then grabbed Johnny's arm tightly and made a beeline for the back door.

"Hope?" Johnny asked, but she didn't stop, begging that she could hold it in just enough to make it outside. She pushed the door open ahead of her, dropping Johnny's hand just as she stumbled off the back step, landing on her hands and knees on the pavement as a huge sob rocked her body.

"Hope, what's going on?" Johnny was by her side in seconds, hands on her shoulders as he pulled her up. "Are you okay?"

The first sob seemed to have broken the dam, and suddenly there were tears pouring down her face. She managed to hold in cries that threatened to jump out of her mouth, but she was shaking so violently she wasn't sure how much longer she could do that for. Instead, she turned to Johnny, burying her face in his chest and grabbing at his shirt with her hands.

"My parents are dead." She whispered, voice halting. "My parents are dead, oh God, they're dead, Aaron said they're dead."  
Johnny paused, then wrapped his arms closer around her as she cried. She held on tighter, the images from Aaron's mind flashing by again and again behind her eyes. He held her for what seemed like hours, rubbing her back and every so often whispering into her hair. He took her home once she had calmed down enough, and it was only just before she fell asleep that she wondered why Eric hadn't been as upset by the news as her.


	5. Five

"Just connect the red wire to the left receptacle...yeah, right there."

Hope nodded, twisting the end into place before securing it with a bit of red tape. "Do I need to weld the other end?"

"No, we should just be able to leave it there." Bruce answered, never once looking up from the tablet he had in his hand. "The charge should jump through the metal fine enough."

 _He's talking like we don't know basic science._ Eric snorted in her head, making Hope roll her eyes once again.  _Like, trust me, I'm pretty sure the Heir of the Earth can handle a bit of electricity._

"Stop calling me that." Hope muttered, twisting underneath the bottom of the machine again. Eric had gotten increasingly brazen since they moved into the mansion, going so far as to insult some of the other Avengers she was interacting with. On top of that, he was pushing her further on the Aaron thing, and calling her the 'Heir of the Earth', whatever that meant, and she was getting fed up with him.

"Sorry?" Bruce asked, finally looking up to her. "Call you what?"

"Nothing!" Hope hastily shouted back, sliding out from underneath. "Just talking to myself."

"Doing that a lot lately." He chuckled in response, although his face was worried.

"Yeah, well." She forced a laugh, tapping the side of her forehead. "Got a lot going on in here."

Bruce nodded after a moment, then asked, "Everything connected down there?"

"Yeah!" She stood, wiping her hands on her shorts. "Should be all good to go." She came to stand beside Bruce, looking up at the machine in front of them with wide eyes. "Tony's gonna flip when he sees this."

"What makes you think he hasn't seen it yet?" Bruce snorted, messing with a few dials in front of him.

"The fact that he hasn't suggested upgrading it." She grinned, making Bruce laugh.

"True, true." He stood straighter, glancing at the console before up to the screen in front of them. "Alright, this is it. Scanner should be up and running...now." He flicked a switch, and with a lot of whirring and beeping, the screen in front of them came to life. 

There were four screens to the machine. The top left hand screen was a radar, constantly sweeping the Earth for signs of extraterrestrial life. The bottom left hand was a radar as well, sweeping for specifically energy related to the Tesseract.  The top right hand was a real-time feed from a satellite of wherever they chose, and the bottom was a screen that switched between security cameras surrounding the door. At any time, this screen could be switched and the radars could be modified to scan for anything else.

 _He's created an insurance policy against us._ Eric growled loudly, making Hope flinch and frown.

_Why would he need to do that?_

"You don't think it's good?" Bruce asked cautiously, and she turned to find him staring at her.

"No, no, it's great."

_It's great that you think we're dangerous._

"The radars seem to be working really well."

_Because we are. We're very dangerous._

"We can definitely use this to help SHIELD as well."

_So dangerous that you need to know where we are at all times._

"He's not keeping an eye on us!"

"Who's not?" Bruce asked, interrupting her. Hope froze. Had she really said that out loud?

"Hope?" Bruce prompted when she didn't respond. "Who's not keeping an eye on you?"

"Um, no one." Hope tried to laugh, but Bruce shook his head, not giving up.

"Who's us?"

"Nothing!" She took a few steps back, pretending to check her phone. "Oh, look, I'm late for a meeting. I'll see you at dinner, yeah? Good luck with the rest of this!" Then she turned and sprinted out the door, stopping once she was on a different floor to catch her breath.

 _You almost got yourself caught!_ She shouted to Eric, glancing around herself to make sure no one was around.  _Why do you have to always assume everyone's against us?_

 _Because they are!_ He responded, voice dark.  _You're so naive, always trusting everyone. They're just trying to use you for your powers, Hope. The only thing they care about is how they can use you for their own gain._

"You're one to talk." She spit, preparing to put the mental block around him. "All you want me for is to help you get your body back. And you know what? I'm starting to think you don't deserve it." 

She slammed the block down, ignoring his cry of protest. He was locked away in her mind, and she sighed, body instantly sagging with relief. She turned and walked down the corridor to her room, while Bruce, on the landing below, turned back to the lab with his brow furrowed in concentration.

 

\- - - - -

 

"Have you noticed anything weird about Hope lately?"

Tony glanced up from where he was working on the monitor screen, brow furrowed. Bruce was staring at the screwdriver in his hands, not even pretending to be working.

"Uh, nothing more weird than usual." He made a face and turned back to his adjustments. Hope had been right. As soon as Tony came over a few days later, he had his tools out and ready to go. "She still calls me out on my thoughts even though you told her to stop, if that's what you're asking."

Bruce smirked, "No, that's not it. I'll talk to her about it though." He paused a moment, then sighed, finally setting the screwdriver down. That got Tony's attention. He looked up, finding Bruce frowning down at the counter.

"She's just been...off. And I know we've only really known her for about half a year, but she's nothing like the girl we found in the woods."

"Well, saving the world can do that to people." Tony stood up straight, hands on his waist. "Not only that, but she was training for a long time at Xavier's school, so maybe she made some friends there and--"

"No, no, it's not that!" Bruce let out an angry breath, wringing his hands. "She's off. Something's wrong, and I can't figure out what. She won't talk to me like she used to. She's defensive, and she's talking to herself all the time and she's always running off with Johnny at all hours, especially now that she and Thor called it quits." He huffed, arms crossing in front of him. "I just...I can't figure out what it is. And I'm her uncle, so you know, I need to help her. Or something."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "She's always running off with Johnny?"

"Yeah, all times of the day."

"Are she and Johnny..." Tony trailed off, waving his hands, "You know..."

Bruce frowned. "Are they what? Friends? I'm pretty sure--"

"No, are they like..." Tony made more gestures with his hands, finally settling on, "Do they...know each other in the biblical sense?"

Bruce paused, then his mouth dropped open. "What?! Hope would never! She would not do something...Something like..." He trailed off, eyes wide. "You know, they do hang out at night a lot." Tony raised his eyebrows in an 'I told you so' expression, and just then, the landing balcony chimed to signal that someone was coming in that way.

"Oh God, I can't look at her  knowing she's sneaking around with the flamethrower." Tony groaned, looking away from the door. Bruce groaned as well, turning to face the sliding doors as they opened.

Instead, in walked Johnny.

"Oh, God, this is even worse." Bruce wheezed, and Johnny waved cheerfully over to them. Tony turned around to glance and promptly let out a loud laugh.

"Uh, hey." Johnny made a face at Tony, then turned to Bruce. "Hope around? We were gonna go flying today."

Bruce frowned at him. "Uh, no, actually. She said she had something to do and left a couple hours ago. I assumed she was with you."

Tony snorted, "I think we all assumed she was with-- _oof_." He cut off, wincing from where Bruce kicked him behind the table. Bruce looked to Johnny, "Has she been doing this a lot lately?"

Johnny shrugged. "Not really. She kinda does what she wants."

"So it's not an exclusive relationship." Tony grinned, looking over at Bruce, who frowned in return.

Johnny glanced between them both before asking, "Uh, why? Is there something going on?"

Bruce glanced at Tony, who lifted his hands in surrender and turned back to fiddle with some dials. Bruce took a deep breath and said, "We think something might be going on with Hope. She's been a little off lately and we're worried about her. You two spend a lot of time together. Have you noticed anything different..." He waved his finger around his head, "Mental wise? Maybe how she's interacting with other people?"

"Uh," Johnny hesitated, and Bruce blinked quickly. Had something purple just flashed in Johnny's eyes? He continued, "I don't think so. I mean, finding out about her parents was kind of hard on her. She was a mess--" He cut off, and Bruce's eyes widened. Okay, there was definitely some sort of purple light bouncing around in there. "I mean, she was upset."

"You were with her when she found out?" Tony asked, who was leaning closer to Johnny with narrowed eyes. So he had seen it as well.

"Yeah, we went out together--" A flash of purple, "With some friends. We--" _Flash,_ "--She ran into someone she knew, and found out that way." Johnny was frowning now, as if he was noticing just how halting his speech was.

Tony leaned ever closer, "Would you say you and Hope are close? That you know everything about her?"

The brightest flash they had seen yet appeared, taking longer to fade away than the others. Bruce and Tony exchanged a look as Johnny answered, "We're good friends. She's like my sister, nothing more." The answer was robotic, and as soon as he was finished speaking, the purple sparked once more, and he grimaced.

"Look, I'm sorry guys." He frowned, putting his hand up to his head. "I just got the weirdest headache. I think I'm gonna go lie down in her room and wait for her to get back." With an apologetic smile and another flash of purple, he turned away, walking slowly out of the room.

Tony at least waited until the doors closed before looking over to Bruce. "Okay, that was fucking weird."

"No kidding." Bruce muttered, still looking at the door before turning around. "You think Hope did something to him?"

"Well, is there a reason she wouldn't want Johnny to know where she's going?" Tony crossed his arms, speaking quickly, like his mind was running through the possible answers. "Would he be jealous of who she's meeting up with? And if she's talking to herself, it's probably someone that has mental abilities as well. So that would mean probably someone around her age. Has she said any names?"

"She did say Eric one time." Bruce answered slowly, but shook his head. "That's her brother's name, though. Why would she be talking to her brother?" He looked up, eyes widening at the same time Tony's did.

"Is she actually talking to her brother?"

"Hey guys!"

Tony and Bruce spun around, eyes wide as if they had been caught doing something. Hope walked breezily towards them through the landing balcony doors as if she didn't notice the awkward air around them. 

"Is Johnny here?" She asked, tapping the side of her head. "Thought I heard him."

"Uh, yeah, he's in your room." Bruce told her, and Tony asked, "Said he was supposed to go flying with you. Where were you?"

"Getting lunch with a friend." She answered quickly, smile just a little too bright. "I'll catch up with you guys later, yeah?" She waved once more and began walking over to the doors.

Tony chewed on his lip a moment, and Bruce couldn't stop him in time before he shouted, "Hey, Eric?"

"Yeah?" Hope turned around, as easily as if that were her own name.

Bruce froze, and Tony quickly coughed out, "No hanky panky. Keep the door unlocked and open."

Hope rolled her eyes with a snort. "Okay, Mom." With a laugh, she walked out the door, and both of the men were quiet for a while after the doors clicked shut.

"She..." Bruce coughed, still having trouble catching his breath. "She didn't even notice we said his name."

"This is probably bad." Tony mumbled quietly, glancing at Bruce.

"Probably, yeah. Definitely." He turned to Tony, a slightly panicked look in his eyes. "We need to get ahold of Xavier and see if anyone can remember exactly what that elf said happened to her brother."

 

 

“Johnny?” Hope knocked tentatively on the door, biting her lip. She knew he was inside the room, she could sense him: Laying on her bed, hands pressed to his face, the surface of his mind a turmoil that she didn’t want to get into.

When he didn’t answer, she knocked again, and after waiting a few more seconds, opened the door, peering gently into the room. The sight was much more worrisome than the one she had expected—his face was red, like when you’re focusing hard and nothing else around you makes sense.

“Johnny? You okay?”

His head snapped over to look at her, then he groaned and sat up. “Yeah, Hope. Just fine.”

“No you’re not.” The annoyed look Johnny gave her made her stop, rubbing one arm in a fit of nervousness. Maybe reading his mind wasn’t the best choice right now. “Well, um. Is there anything I can do?”

“Don’t think so.” Johnny smirked bitterly, carefully avoiding looking at her. “Don’t think you can help when you’re a part of the problem.”

“I’m the problem?” She asked, hoping to draw it out of him. She knew full well that she was part of it, but maybe talking was the answer. “What did I do?”

“That’s the thing!” Johnny’s hands lifted in surrender and he finally looked at her, bewildered. “I don’t know! I have no idea what you did, but somehow it all comes back to the feeling that it’s your fault.” Again, the purple she had seen over the past few weeks flashed in his eyes, making his face turn troubled. Confused, she pressed lightly into his mind, seeing the purple sparks flashing about through his thoughts.

 _Huh. Feels like you did this._ Eric echoed silently, albeit confused. She pushed him away, not needing his commentary right now.

“Look, I think I can help.” She started slowly, following Eric’s train of thought. Johnny watched her, and she took his silence as permission to keep going. “You’re confused, right? Something about me makes your brain go all weird?”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” He snorted, but his hesitance in smiling confirmed it for Hope.

She frowned, sitting across from him on the bed. “Put your comments aside for a second, Storm. Describe it to me. What exactly makes you go all weird?”

He paused, then looked down to his hands as he spoke. “It’s nothing. I think. I mean, it started out as nothing. Like, back when I first met you, everything was cool, you know? You were just someone fun I had met. And then the more we’ve hung out now, I keep getting this feeling that I should know more than I do, feel more than I do, but I can’t get to it.” He looked up to her, desperate. “And every time I see you, I get this urge to just, like hold you—“ The purple flashed in his eyes again, and his face went blank. After a second, he shook his head a bit, as if waking up. “I mean…Actually, I don’t know what I mean.” He trailed off, confused, and inside of Hope, she felt something twinge painfully, and she knew what had happened.

“Johnny…I need you to trust me, okay?” She said quietly, then grabbed his hand, watching the purple fire behind his irises. “I think I can help, but it might make things worse for a bit before they get better, alright?” He nodded hesitantly, and she closed her eyes, using the physical connection with Johnny to go straight into his memories, going months back. “Think about the first time we hung out. Think about what happened. Hold onto it.”

 _Are you sure you want to do this?_ Eric asked, right there with her.

 _Positive._ She answered, heading straight for the first time they had met and watching as it was brought up to the surface of Johnny’s mind. She followed along the path until that night at the torch of the Statue of Liberty, watching how it had all played out. 

Johnny had kissed her, and she had erased it from his mind, along with his feelings for her. Furrowing her brow, she went back, slowly reinstating what had actually happened into his memories and removing the mental blocks. Who knew the repercussions of this tiny act would turn out so major? She didn’t even want to think of all the other people she’s messed with.

Slowly pulling back out, she opened her eyes once more, placing Johnny’s hand on his lap while he sat in the trance-like state that often happened after altering memories. He blinked a couple times, the purple flashing brightly twice before finally fading, and he looked up at her, and then his eyes refocused and he really looked at her, emotions flooding his face.

“What the hell.” Johnny stood up abruptly, hands in a defensive gesture out in front of him. “What the fuck, Hope?” He asked accusingly, “You messed with my head? How could you do that?”

“Johnny, listen—“ She pleaded, only to be interrupted again. 

“No! What the _hell_?” His eyes were wide, trying to process what had happened. “You just went in and erased stuff from my mind, like it was nothing? I thought we were friends! Well, not apparently,” He corrected himself, anger burning through his mind so much that Hope pulled back, “Because friends don’t kiss and then pretend it never happened!”

“We are!” She argued, standing up. “I did it to protect you!”

“To protect me?” He laughed, baffled expression flooding his features as he threw his hands in the air. “Protect me from what?”

“From me!” Hope yelled, grey eyes boring into his. He finally stopped pacing, turning to fully face her, silent. Hope sighed, continuing. “I did it to protect you from me. What else was I supposed to do? Everyone close to me ended up hurt, and I know people are going to get hurt in the future because of me. And then there was Thor and Logan in the picture, and I didn’t want you to get in that whole mess and I just didn’t know how to handle it, how to handle being—“ Hope paused, rethinking her sentence. “Any of this.” She finished quietly, and Johnny frowned.

He stepped back a bit, pulling back into himself as he asked, quietly but firmly, “Didn’t know how to handle what?”

Hope looked away, crossing her arms in front of her again as she muttered, “I didn’t know how to handle my feelings for you. And I didn’t want to hurt you, because I genuinely, really care about you. I don’t want you being the one in the future who gets hurt. So I made it so you wouldn’t have to feel that way and I had just hoped the problem would go away.” It was silent for a moment, and Hope could feel Johnny processing what she had just said. She pulled back her awareness, squeezing her eyes shut. She so did not want to hear him deciding how to reject her.

“It didn’t go away, did it?”

His quiet sentence surprised her, and she looked at him once more. Johnny stood in front of her, an understanding look in his eyes as his hands fidgeted in front of him. She shook her head cautiously, and Johnny nodded.

“Yeah, me neither. I guess that’s why your whole mind-eraser thing didn’t exactly work.”

She watched him, brow furrowed. “So…?”

He laughed, “You’ve really never had something like this happen, have you?”

She rolled her eyes. “Shut up, Storm. You know I lived in the forest for five years.”

“And none of the animals ever had a crush on you?”

Her mouth opened to yell at him, but she was taken by surprise when his lips pressed against hers, hands on her shoulders, steadying her into the weight of his kiss. She was frozen, mouth pressed against his. He held her tightly, pulling her a bit closer as his lips softened. They weren’t really kissing, so much as just holding the other there, breathing each other in for the first time, for the time they had lost. Finally, Johnny pulled back, forehead pressed against hers.

“I hope that wasn’t out of line.” He whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to her nose. “I seem to remember now that you like surprises.” Hope smiled, gazing up at him, then leaned upwards, kissing him—really kissing him. Johnny smiled against her lips and kissed her back, hands moving to her lower back. Eric made a disgusted noise and Hope shoved him to the back of her mind, blocking him out as she pulled Johnny backwards, back onto the bed.

“Whoa, thought you said you had no experience whatsoever?” Johnny laughed, rolling them over so he was on top.

Hope smiled up at him, “No, but I’ve got your memories to help me through the whole process.” 

Johnny laughed and kissed her again, then pulled back to ask, “So, no more messing with my mind, okay? Or anyone we know, for that matter.”

She nodded shyly, blushing a bit. “Yeah, I won’t. Promise.” Then she pulled Johnny back to her, wondering why she had ever tried to stop this in the first place. And it didn’t take her telepathy to know that Johnny was wondering the same thing.

 

 

"There's no way you would beat me."

"I'm absolutely positive I could."

"How? I have like, years of flying on you!"

Johnny laughed then, swinging his and Hope's hands between them as they walked down the hallway. She grinned with him, only halfway listening to him talk. They had talked, they had worked it out--and it was great. The past two days were going to be the trial period, they said. They agreed they'd try the relationship thing, see if it was what they really wanted, and if it wasn't, they'd go back to being friends, no harm done.

And it had been great.

It was exactly as it had been ever since they met: no awkwardness, never a dull moment, neither of them afraid to say what they were thinking. The kissing was just an added bonus.

"What are you thinking about?"

Hope's head snapped up, giving Johnny a look. "Nothing. Why?"

He rolled his eyes, squeezing her hand a bit. "You totally weren't listening to the story I was telling. And you had your focused face on." He furrowed his brows and stuck out his bottom lip, making her laugh.

"I do not look like that!"

"You totally do!"

She let go of his hand, shoving him lightly instead while he laughed. Coming right up next to her with the next couple steps, he asked, "Seriously, though. What were you thinking about?"

She shrugged, "Nothing much. Us, kind of. How easy it was." She paused, biting her lip. Should she tell him?

 _You can't tell anyone._ Eric told her bitterly, _No one would believe you. They won't help you._

"How easy everything's been, lately." She continued, turning to walk down the set of stairs that would lead them to the balcony. "There's been nothing going on. It's been just months of training and hanging out."

"And you're complaining about that?" Johnny snorted.

Hope grinned. "It's just boring, you know? And ever since I've met you guys, nothing's been boring." They turned down the hallway, stopping to glance at each other before opening the doors to the main room. "Doesn't that seem strange to you?"

"Hey, Hope."

Hope and Johnny turned, stopping just inside the room. In front of them stood Bruce, Tony, Xavier and Reed, all standing around the monitor Bruce and Tony had just finished working on. She frowned, trying to glance into their minds, but found she couldn't. She checked each one in turn, and each time found a solid wall that could have only been put there by Xavier.

"This isn't good." She muttered, and Johnny shot her a worried look. Eric, in the back of her mind, grew defensive.

"Have a seat." Tony gestured to the area in front of them. "We need to talk."

"What is this, an intervention?" Johnny asked, trying for playful but ending up sounding this side of panicked.

"This doesn't involve you, Johnny." Reed told him with a stern tone. Of course, that only made Johnny frown and take a step closer to Hope.

"What's going on, Bruce?" Hope asked quietly, looking to the one person she knew wouldn't lie to her. He looked to the floor, instead letting Xavier roll forward a bit to speak.

"We just wanted to talk to you about a few things." He told her, giving her a gentle smile. "Ask about what you've been doing since you left the school."

"It's barely been two weeks." Hope answered flatly. "I've barely had time to do anything."

"Not true." Reed raised an eyebrow. "You and Johnny have been going--"

"Reed!" Johnny hissed, making a cutthroat motion, but Tony sighed at him.

"He already told us, Johnny. We know that you and Hope have been sneaking off to go out drinking every other night." He gestured to Hope angrily, "Even though you are plenty aware that there could be people out there trying to hunt her down and kill her."

Xavier raised a hand, cutting him off and looking to Hope. "You're smarter than this, Hope. Why are you putting yourself in danger like this?"

"She can handle herself just fine." Johnny said hotly, and Reed shot him another look.

"The question is not whether she can handle herself," Xavier's voice remained even, "But if she knows what she's doing is reckless."

Hope hesitated, looking to Bruce once more, but he avoided her gaze. Eric glowered, _Don't you dare tell them._

 _Eric, I need to._ She told him quietly, _They need to understand why I keep going to see Aaron._

_They won't understand! They'll just try and stop you!_

"Is there something you want to tell us?" Xavier asked, noting how quiet she had been.

_You can't tell anyone._

"...No." Hope told them, and winced at how unconvincing she sounded.

"Well, that sucks, because we know what you're trying to do." Tony told her, crossing his arms angrily. For the first time, Bruce looked up at her, face flooded with worry and pain and a fear that she hadn't seen before. Next to her, Johnny took half a step away, gaze boring into the side of her face. She held Bruce's gaze, trying to convey to him how sorry she was.

"What are you talking about?" She whispered, and Tony narrowed his eyes.

"We know you're trying to bring your brother back to life."


End file.
